


Rebuilding

by BaronVonChop



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
Genre: Catra Redemption, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Post-Canon, post-redemption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-08-29 13:24:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16744831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BaronVonChop/pseuds/BaronVonChop
Summary: After the war and the fall of the Horde, Catra is working to undo the damage. Adora worries about her friend.





	Rebuilding

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks as always to my amazing beta reader for the ideas and corrections! Any remaining mistakes are my own.

The light of the setting sun shone between the bare trunks of the trees, their branches and leaves stripped by the fires of war. Adora slowed her pace, her footsteps crunching over the singed foliage strewed across the ground. She paused at a trunk, touched the scarred bark, and looked up. Far above, she could just make out the nubs of new, green branches starting to push through the damage. Adora smiled wearily and kept walking.

Up ahead, backlit by the sun, rose the walls of the village that was Adora’s destination. Dormant construction vehicles stood near stacks of lumber, piles of bricks, and bags of cement. The workers had gone home for the day. All but one.

Adora heard grunting and grumbling up ahead. She rounded a corner to see a ruined house with a partially-rebuilt framework. Catra was wrestling a wooden beam into place, gritting her sharp teeth and groaning.

Catra’s right ear flicked toward Adora as she heard her approach. She shifted her grip on the beam and turned. "Hey, Adora."

"Hi," Adora said with a little wave. The greeting seemed insufficient, and she felt a surge of regret, but she tried not to let it show. After all they had both been through, she knew they had to take it slow. "It’s a bit late to still be working."

Catra eased the weight onto her shoulder and ran a hand down her face, ruffling her fur. "I just thought I’d wrap this up before calling it a day."

"By yourself?" Adora picked up the other and of the beam and started lifting. To her surprise, Catra accepted her help without comment.

"I need to do my share." They got the beam in place. Catra climbed up the nearby pole and started securing the beam. "Between Scorpia’s muscles and Entrapta’s machines, it’s hard to keep up."

"It’s not a competition. You’re going to wear yourself out."

Catra grinned down at her. "Aw, you care about me!" Adora met her eyes, and Catra looked away.

"Let’s finish this beam and call it a night," Adora said.

"Okay, give me a minute."

Once Catra had finished, she began to climb down. Adora could tell from her slow pace that she must be exhausted. When she reached the bottom, she swayed, and Adora stepped forward and put an arm out, steadying her. She kept her arm around Catra, feeling the tension in her wiry muscles.

Catra narrowed her eyes and flattened her ears. Adora waited for a sarcastic comment or biting rebuke, but the moment passed. Catra looked down. "Thanks."

Adora let out a relieved chuckle. "Wow, you really must be tired." She let Catra lean on her as they left the building. Something occurred to her as they walked. "Have you had dinner yet?" she asked, trying to make it sound casual.

"I’ve eaten," Catra said, her husky voice obstinate.

"How long ago?"

Catra did not reply, but Adora could feel Catra’s tail bumping the backs of her calves with each swish. Adora stopped, reached into her pack, and withdrew a bundle wrapped in a cloth. Catra sniffed it and hesitated. From the way she leaned forward, Adora could tell that she wanted it, so she waited, allowing Catra to make up her mind. Finally, Catra took the bundle and unwrapped it, revealing a pile of fish sticks. She ate quickly.

"You didn’t have to do this for me," she mumbled around a mouthful of food. When she had finished, Adora handed her a bottle of juice. She accepted the bottle reluctantly, but drank it all before handing it back to Adora.

They walked past the slumbering machines and into the forest. Catra no longer leaned on Adora, so Adora let her walk on her own. Nevertheless, Catra stayed close to her, and occasionally the fur on Catra’s arm brushed Adora’s arm. It felt nice, in a melancholy way.

Catra looked up at the trees with a frown. She bowed her head, her ears drooping. "It’s so easy to destroy things, and so much harder to rebuild."

Adora gave her an encouraging smile. "You’re doing a great job."

Catra shook her head. "None of this would have happened if it hadn’t been for me."

Adora made her voice stern. "That’s not true. Hordak would have found someone else to lead his armies. Maybe that person would still be leading them. Without you turning on Hordak, Scorpia and Entrapta might still be serving the Horde. If you hadn’t helped the Princess Alliance, we would never have defeated Hordak."

Catra looked aside. "You might be the only person who feels that way."

For a moment, Adora felt a touch of annoyance, but it disappeared when she saw the genuinely dejected look on Catra’s face. "What do you mean?"

"Bow and Glimmer are avoiding me," Catra said, her voice thick with emotion. "At first, they tried to be nice, but lately they don’t even bother. When I saw them this morning, they stopped talking until I left the room."

That took Adora by surprise. "Oh! Um… I think that’s something else."

Catra made a skeptical sound.

They continued on in silence.

When they reached Castle Bright Moon, Catra gave Adora a cursory wave. "Well, here we are. I guess you’ll be going to your huge, comfortable room, so I’d better get back to my cell."

Adora’s heart sank. "Please don’t call it a cell. It’s not so bad, is it?"

Catra laughed humorlessly. "Well, it’s in the dungeon, and it has guards, so what should I call it?"

Adora did not know what to say. After a moment, Catra huffed and turned, walking toward the stairs leading down. Adora followed her and quickened her pace until they walked side by side again. Crystals glowed in sconces every few feet, illuminating the stone corridor.

Catra rolled her eyes. "You don’t need to keep an eye on me until we reach the guards. It’s not like I can slip away between here and my cell."

The words stung, but Adora took a breath, held it, and let them go. Arguing would only make things worse; besides, she knew Catra did not mean it.

They reached Scorpia’s and Entrapta’s rooms. Their doors were open, so Adora glanced inside. "Look, Scorpia and Entrapta have furnished their rooms! You could do that, too."

Scorpia had a four-poster bed with hanging curtains, a soft couch, and racks of weights. As they passed, Scorpia was lounging on the couch, reading a romance novel from a nearby stack. One of the men on the cover looked a lot like Sea Hawk. When Scorpia saw them walk by, she gave them a cheerful wave.

Entrapta’s room was crammed to the ceiling with machines and parts. As it had been useless to stop her from acquiring tech, the guards had instead given her things to fix. The results of Entrapta’s repairs did not always serve the same purpose as the items she had been brought, but they were always better. Adora could hear her recording a new log entry over the clattering of tools.

"What’s the point?" Catra muttered. She gestured to a table in the corridor where two guards played a game with painted tiles. "It’s still a cell."

"Only until the rebuilding project is finished," Adora reminded her. "Then you’re free to go."

"So why bother decorating? As soon as I can leave, I’m out of here."

Adora stopped walking, and after a few more steps, Catra did, too. Adora said to Catra’s back, "Where will you go? Entrapta is planning to return to Dryl to continue her experiments, and Scorpia will help her family rebuild after the Horde."

Catra raised her shoulders in a shrug. "I’ll just go back to the Fright Zone. It’s the closest thing to a home I’ve ever had."

Adora’s heart plunged. She took a few steps toward Catra and reached out. "You could--"

Catra spun with a snarl that made Adora’s voice catch in her throat. Catra glanced at Adora’s extended hand, and Adora lowered it, clasping it with her other hand as the chill in the dungeon made her shiver. Adora watched the crystal light glowing in Catra’s mismatched eyes and tried to read the emotions there. Had she said something wrong?

Adora’s sadness must have shown on her face, because Catra’s expression softened and her fur smoothed out. "Don’t worry about me." She sagged. "You’ll have your other friends to keep you company."

"You’re my friend, too." Adora knew it sounded lame, but she had to say it anyway. She wanted to say more, but this was not the place.

"Yeah," Catra said, glancing away and blinking hard. She turned and kept walking down the corridor. They saw Catra’s room up ahead. "Why is my door open?" Catra rushed forward. Her voice rose in pitch. "And what happened to my bed?" The disassembled pieces of her bed were leaning against the corridor’s wall.

"Catra, wait!" Adora called, hurrying after her.

Familiar voices came from Catra’s room. Before Adora caught up to Catra, Glimmer and Bow stepped out of Catra’s room. They stopped when they saw Catra, and Catra stopped, too, her tail lashing.

"What are you doing in my room?" Catra demanded.

Bow winced. "It was meant to be a surprise."

"We had to remove the other bed," Glimmer added, "to make room for the new one."

"I don’t want a new bed!" Catra screeched. "I never asked for you to do anything for me!"

Adora’s voice was quiet. "It’s not for you."

Catra looked at her, tears glittering in her lashes. "What?"

"It’s for me." Adora took Catra’s hand and led her into the room. Where Catra’s bed had stood, there was now a bunkbed. "Do you still like the top bunk?"

Catra stood in the door, looking at the bed. Moments passed, but she did not say anything.

Adora started to worry. "If you’d rather have the room to yourself, we could--"

Catra flung herself at Adora and wrapped her arms around her shoulders, burying her face in Adora’s neck. Adora felt hot tears against her skin. "Yeah," Catra mumbled, "I still like the top bunk."

Adora knew it was a lie, but it was the best kind of lie. That night, Adora pretended to be asleep when Catra climbed down from the top bunk and curled up at Adora’s feet.

"Thanks, Adora," Catra whispered. "This is all I ever wanted."

Adora smiled in the dark. Finally, they were home.


End file.
